PRESS RELEASE

Puerto Rican Leaders Warn of Fiscal and Cash Crises

Oct. 9, 2017 (EIRNS)—Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló sent Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a letter requesting another $4.6 billion in aid over the weekend, in which he warned that "in addition to the physical destruction, Puerto Rico’s economy has ground to a near standstill," which means no revenues are incoming.

"Financial damages of this magnitude will subject Puerto Rico’s central government, its instrumentalities, and municipal governments to unsustainable cash shortfalls. As a result, in addition to the immediate humanitarian crisis, Puerto Rico is on the brink of a massive liquidity crisis that will intensify in the immediate future."

The aid is reportedly requested mostly in the form of more community block grants from the Department of Housing and Urban development.

According to a Bloomberg news story from today, New York Federal Reserve president William Dudley sent a jet full of an unannounced amount of cash down to Puerto Rico last week, after receiving a call from an agitated head of Puerto Rico’s Banco Popular, reporting that because the island has been reduced to primarily a cash economy by the hurricane, local bankers are afraid of running out of bills.